The Core of Uncertainty
by hannahheartsaang
Summary: A thick tension is in the air, and she notices how everyone is looking at her; like she is possessed. Evil. Well, everyone except Avatar Aang. He was simply staring at her with no real emotion. Like he was pondering the situation. She knew there was something she was missing. She just didn't know what. Aang x Azula. Minor Zutara. Rated M for later chapters. Read and review?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! I am really excited about this story and have big plans for it. I hope you all will give it a change even though it's an Aang x Azula fic. I promise the way I have it planned it works! **

**Special thanks to my beta reader Xx3-Dark-Angel-3xX **

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A look of surprise graces her face, though it quickly twists into one of frustration and disdain as she barely escape's the hold of her attacker. After she manages to stable herself, she rises with a sort of arrogance, like she had seen him coming. A lie of course. To be honest she was rather irritated. No one had ever been able to sneak up on her.

Masking her inner turmoil, she smiles. "It's not polite to sneak up on people,"

He frowns, clearly not in the mood to joke around. Probably due to the fact that he had to be the one to retrieve her. She knew Zuzu would send someone after her. Once they caught up with her, she planned on disposing of them and continuing on her way, though she still wasn't sure where exactly she was going. But she didn't really care as long as it was as far away from that _place_ as possible.

She narrows her lids as she eyes him. Just by looking at him she can tell he isn't the same boy she once so easily took down. And if she's honest, she's not sure it would be so easy now. Five years of not being able to bend have taken their toll on her; he knows it too and is planning on using that to his advantage. No matter. She is still Azula.

She playfully arches an eyebrow at him. It's like he was trying to taunt her with that rather bored expression.

"I suppose you're here to tell me I have to go back to prison?" She questions, sitting on a nearby rock.

"To the asylum, yes," He clarifies. She smirks at how noticeably tense he becomes when she purposefully pushes her fully developed curves out. Men were all the same and she knew how to distract them when she had to.

"What if I say no?" She questions, pursing her full lips.

He sighs, clearly getting frustrated. She pushes it one step further and lets one side of the loose shirt she had on slip, revealing part of her ivory skin.

She laughs at how obviously uncomfortable he is becoming. His eyes become hard and he strides toward her.

"This is ridiculous," he mutters to himself. Once he is just a step away from her, she shoots out a blast of fire and leaps backward.

Suddenly, she feels herself drop. For a split second she panics... then black...

...

He is quick to block the blast of blue fire she shoots at him. As he's about to counter her attack, he watches her fall from sight. She clearly had not been counting on the small crater being just behind her. He rushes to the edge of the cliff just in time to see her smack into the side of a rock. After a short fall, her now limp body crashes into the hard earth.

For a moment, he just stares, stunned, waiting for her to get up. When she never does, he doesn't know whether to panic, or be thankful to have a fight spared.

Now next to her, he carefully picks up her too still frame. Hm, she's lighter than he expected her to be.

"Zuko's gonna be _ecstatic_ when he hears about this," Aang murmurs to himself, tasting the sarcasm in his own words.

* * *

The first thing that she realizes as she comes to is that her head hurts. A lot. She starts to sit up, but immediately regrets the action as a wave of nausea overcomes her.

Taking in her surroundings, her confusion grows. Where was she? How did she get here? What happened to her? _Why couldn't she remember anything?_

"Ah, good you're awake," A man announces as he strides towards her. She stares hard at the man, waiting for any indication that she knew him. Nothing. Nothing about him seemed familiar.

He turns to a woman behind him, "Send for Avatar Aang,". As he speaks the name, something inside her wakes. The name holds a familiar taste and she is sure she knows it.

Before long, another figure is entering the room. Her hopeful eyes find a pair of grey ones. She waits for anything to come back to her. Anything at all. But again, nothing happens. Just a creeping sense that she should know him.

The figure she believes to be Avatar Aang slowly approaches, eying her strangely.

"How are you feeling, Azula?" He questions.

She furrows her brow for a moment before she finds her words. "Azula?" It felt like a funny thing to say, but everything about this situation confused and ultimately, scared her.

A rather befuddled look appears on his face and he looks to the other figures in the room. When they hold the same confusion, he turns his attention back to her.

He eyes her for what seems like forever before finally breaking the silence. "What's your name?"

It seemed like such a simple question. Why couldn't she answer it? _Why couldn't she remember anything?!_ She could feel tears prick her now frightened eyes as she stares hard at him, shaking her head. A strange look passes through his eyes that she can't quite name.

"Avatar Aang, shouldn't we notify Fire Lord Zuko?" The man in the doorway asks.

"No, I can handle this. Let him enjoy his honeymoon," Avatar Aang replies, still looking at her. By now her tears have spilled over silently.

"But Fire Lord Zuko-"

"Will deal with it when he returns," Avatar Aang interrupts him, turning his head slightly towards him. There's a distinct sense of authority in his voice that tells her he obviously holds a place power. The man bows, but clearly doesn't agree with the orders.

She tries to comprehend what any of this means and when she can't figure it out she becomes cold and frightened at the core.

"What's the last thing you remember?" He asks, turning his attention back to her. She thinks for a moment.

"Waking up here," Her voice is shaky and the words are barely audible. Again, the strange look flashes in his grey eyes. More questions come. She knows the answers to none of them.

A thick tension is in the air, and she notices how everyone is looking at her; like she is possessed. Evil. Well, everyone except Avatar Aang. He was simply staring at her with no real emotion. Like he was pondering the situation. She knew there was something she was missing. She just didn't know what.

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**I hope you all like it so far. And if you didn't figure it out, this takes place five years after the war has ended.  
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**Review and let me know what you think so far? ^^ Next chapter will be longer I promise.  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Hey there! I'm soooo sorry that it has taken me soo long to post this.. I had a major case of writers block and am just now coming out of it. So, here's the next chapter! Ihope you like it!**

**And thank you for all the wonderful feedback! It means alot! ^^**

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She wakes with a start the next morning at the sudden voices outside her door, grimacing as she realizes her head still hurts. Trying to ignore the pain, she sits up and is just barely able to make out parts of the conversation.

"I'm just not sure we can trust what she's saying. Azula is known to be an incredible liar," She recognizes the voice as the man from yesterday. By now she knows that she is Azula, but only because she was told so. She still can't recall anything before waking up yesterday.

"I understand your concern Doctor, and trust me, I am just as suspicious," She tenses at the sound of his voice. There's that feeling again. By now she has figured that he must have been of importance to her. Why else would she have a creeping sense that she should know him? It was the only obvious conclusion. Well, unless she was just crazy. Though she didn't feel crazy. But what crazy person does?

"Which is why I think it'd be best if I kept a closer eye on her," Avatar Aang continues. This makes her pause. Keep a close eye on her?

"I assure you she is well guarded and looked after. If she tries anything we'll be able to handle it," The doctor tries to persuade him.  
There was a pause before Avatar Aang finally replied, though she couldn't make out what he said. Something about "she escaped before,"

Escaped? Why would she need to escape? And why was everyone acting like she [was] some dangerous, crazy person who needed guarding twenty four-seven?!

God she hoped she wasn't crazy...

Shaking away her thoughts, she tried to focus on the conversation again, but they had gone quiet. Frowning in frustration, she tugs at her long dark hair.

**ooOOoo**

For what seems like an eternity, she is left in her room with absolutely nothing to do but stare at blank walls. How long was she going to be kept in here? She was no doctor, but shouldn't they be running tests or something to try and figure out her memory problem?

Huffing a sigh, she pushes off the poor excuse of a bed and begins pacing.

After about a minute or two of endlessly walking back and forth, she hears the door open. Turning around swiftly, she meets a pair of grey eyes.

"Good morning Azula,"

"Good morning Avatar Aang," She smiles.

For a moment he eyes her like she just grew a second head. Gosh why did everything she did confuse people so much? It was really starting to annoy her.

"Please, just call me Aang," He replies, smiling back at her, though she can tell it's forced.

"So what's up?" She asks, like this it a just a casual conversation. Again, her words receive a strange look from him.

"Um, until we figure out what's going on with your memory, we're going to move you to a more secure location," he says getting straight to the point of his visit. A million questions come to her. Where was she going? Why did she need to be moved to a "secure location"? Why wasn't she being told everything?

But she just nods, afraid that all her questions will get her is more strange looks. She didn't want to give them a reason to keep her here in this boring place.

He starts to tell her to grab her things, but before he can finish his sentence he realizes that the only things she currently owns, or at least remembers owning, are the clothes on her back. So, he motions for her to follow him.

As he leads her through a series of passageways, she receives looks from nearly everyone they pass. Some terrified, some angry, some both. She tries to ignore it, but she would be lying if she said the looks didn't bother her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Aang eyeing her carefully. She smiles weakly at him, something inside telling her to put on a brave face. Don't be weak. He returns her smile but she can see the sympathy on his face. Like he feels bad for her.

Part of her wants to snap at him, saying she doesn't need anyone's sympathy. Needing sympathy would make her weak. She couldn't explain why that bothered her so much. It just did.

Another part of her wants to cry. Everyone kept stabbing accusing glares at her for reasons she didn't know. She didn't feel like a bad person but according to everyone here, that's exactly what she was.

In the end she decides to just stare at the floor as she walks. Eager to get out of this place.

**ooOOoo**

As they pull up to the building, she can't help but stare in awe. It was huge. She wasn't sure what she had expected but this certainly wasn't it.

The house was two stories large and had a large porch surrounding the first floor with several balcony's lining the second.

As Aang leads her up the gravel path, she eyes the stone platform she can barely see in the backyard.

A fresh blast of cool air reaches them as they enter the house. Again, she is left in awe. The inside is even more beautiful than the outside.

"Where are we?" She manages to mumble. He opens his mouth to answer but is interrupted by a woman approaching.

"Avatar Aang, welcome home," She greets as she bows.

Wait, home? We were at Aang's house?

As she rises from the bow she hands him a scroll. "The general has requested your presence at the palace,"

He eyes the scroll for a while before sighing.

"Okay, I'll be back soon. Um, Chio, would you show her around until I get back?"

That's when the girl she now know as Chio notices Azula. Again, she gets the same look that everyone gets when they look at her, then Chio looks at Aang as if to say "What the hell is she doing here?"

He gives her a look in response that tells Chio she doesn't have a choice. She was about to tell him it's no problem and that she can show herself around, but she can't seem to find her words. As the two girls watch him leave, an awkward tension enters the atmosphere. Azula nervously bits her lip as Chio avoids looking at her and motions for her to follow.

_Well this was going to be painfully uncomfortable..._

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**I hope you liked it! Please review and let me know what you think^^ Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sorry updates aren't coming as often as I would like. I'm busier with work than I thought I would be. But I am going to try and update as often as I can! And thank you all for all the reviews, follows and favorites so far! It means so much! ^^  
**

**Oh! And some people said in reviews that even with amnesia Azula would still be herself. But amnesia is a very strong thing. I've known people who have forgotten their lives temporarily, so it's not that far fetched. Also, keep in mind that it has only been about a day and a half since she woke up.**

**Anyways! I hope you enjoy! ^_^**

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Azula could be wrong, but something told her that this wasn't what Aang had in mind when he told Chio to show her around. Almost as soon as the tour had started, it was finished, and Chio all but ran away. She claimed she had something to do, and her open ended statement left Azula unsure if she would be back or not. So now Azula was alone is some room. Not that she minds. The girl kept throwing her weird looks that made Azula uncomfortable. From what she's heard about herself so far she probably deserves the looks, but that doesn't make them any more bearable.

She stands in the room for a few minutes before coming to the realization that Chio is not coming back. Peeking her head out the door, she glances down the hallway. Finding no one, she steps out and begins walking around, hoping she won't run into anyone else. She wasn't sure if she could take any more judging glances from strangers.

Before long, she notices a definite theme of soft oranges and yellows. The colors seem to be everywhere. Every once in a while, the colors would be accompanied by a symbol that probably mean something important. What that is, she has no idea.

Not really sure what she's looking for, she walks in and out of some rooms. Other rooms she leaves alone. The more rooms she enters the more she notices the sharp architecture of the furniture. Without realizing it, her pace slows. Every corner has a kind of intimidating point to it that makes Azula's core go cold, but she can't place why. She isn't surprised though; frustrated is more accurate.

Her feet are stopped now but she doesn't realize it. All she can is stare hard at one of the knife-like edges of a table. Something about them made her pause. Like they held some kind of significance to her somehow. She reaches out and traces the edge of the table, and she can practically feel her memories in that black hole in her mind. Right on the brink of surfacing.

_Come on, REMEMBER!_

She's practically screaming on the inside but the only signs of her inner turmoil are the tears that are now stinging her cheeks.

Before she knows what she's doing, her feet are carrying her away.

She doesn't know where she is running to. All that seems to registered in her mind right now is the need to run as fast as she can. Like if she runs fast enough, she'll be able to escape the void that is her mind. But it continues to follow her.

The tears continue and her vision is beginning to blur because of it. Trembling fingers attempted to brush away the wetness that now covered her face as she pushes through a door. A few more hurried steps is all she manages before she stops and fall[s] to the ground. Her legs are shaking and she can feel her heart pulsing in her chest.

For a long while, she just sits there. Her face to the ground. Never wanting to get up.

But after taking in a few deep breaths, she finally lifts her aching head in an attempt to registered[register] where she is. A slight breeze is carried around her, slightly moving her long black hair. A strong scent of nature fills her to the brim and she can make out sounds of trickling water. As her tired eyes glance around, she realizes that for once, she knows where she is. She is at the stone platform she noticed on her way in.

A smiled plays on her lips, and for what seems like the first time since she woke up, she feels calm. Like everything is alright.

**ooOOoo**

"Azula?"

"Hmm?" She mumbles a response as she lifts herself up. Hearing a soft laugh, she glances up to see Aang standing over her.

"Ya know, if you wanted to take a nap, you could have just used one of the bedrooms," Aang smirks.

"I fell asleep?" Azula rubs at her eyes, glancing around. Taking in her surroundings she remembers where she is and her smile returns. "What is this place?"

"This is where I train," Aang explains as he helps her up.

"Train?" She gives him a questioning look.

She notices him pause. Like he is considering the situation and whether or not he should explain further. That seems to be happening a lot lately.

"Um, I'll explain later," He decides to remain quiet. Whatever, she should be used to the secrets by now. "For now, lets go eat." He motions for her to follow and sighing, she decides to just let it go and follow him.

**ooOOoo**

She hadn't noticed how hungry she was until she smelled the food. As soon as her plate was set before her, she began devouring the meal. After a few minutes, a chuckle from across the table made her stop and glance up at a rather amused Aang.

Blushing slightly, she slows her pace. Her embarrassment only slightly put at ease by the smile on his face.

"Um, excuse me, Avatar Aang?"

They glance over to see Chio standing in the entryway of the dining room.

"Chio, what are you still doing here?" Aang asks.

"Well, I was just going through all the papers and-"

"Go home Chio," Aang laughs. "You work too hard,"

Azula notices the slight blush on her cheeks as she bows before leaving. It is obvious to Azula that Chio likes Aang. Though it didn't seem like Aang knew it. Actually the more Azula thought about it, the more it seemed like Aang was trying his hardest not to notice Chio. Like he was on guard all the time. But what does she know. She hasn't really know him that long. Well, that she can remember.

He smirks up at her and she realizes she is staring. Her cheeks once again grow red, as she looks down at her nearly empty plate.

**ooOOoo **

"Alright, this will be your room," Aang opens the door to reveal a very simple room. A bed is placed in the middle of the far wall and only a few other things are placed around the room.

Again, her smile found her. She likes the simplicity of it. It will work very nice for her.

"And this is, Satoya." Aang introduces as a man enters the room. As soon as she sees him, she feels herself freeze. Not because she recognizes him. No, it's not really him at all.

Sharp edges of his uniform cloud her vision. Her breathing is now heavier. The significance of pointed edges become clearer to her. She doesn't know why, a gut feeling maybe, but she knows that the uniform he's wearing holds meaning to her.

"Azula?" Aang's voice pulls her out of her trance. She finds his grey eyes, and notices the worry behind them. "You okay?"

Unable to form words, she nods. He doesn't seem convinced but continues anyway.

"Um, Satoya will be your guard," Aang states, and as soon as the words leave his lips, a cord[chord] is struck inside her.

She doesn't know why this frightens her so much. It just does.

"No!" She practically screams. Both men are looking at her, though their faces hold different expressions. Satoya looks frightened, though she barely notices. Her eyes are fixated on his grey ones. The concern is now deepened and surprise glazes over them as well.

Her whole being is shaking with a fear she can't place. Something at the root of her screamed at the mention of having a guard.

The silence in the room is deafening. She wants to speak. To try and explain her outburst. But she can't. She can't speak. She can't do anything but stand there and tremble like a scared little girl.

"Hey," Aang whispers as he slowly walks toward her. Part of her wants to back away as he moves closer. Scream at him.

But as he stops in front of her, and she can feel his strong scent nearly consume her, she can't bring herself to do anything. She just stares back up at him.

"What's wrong?" He whispers.

She shakes her head. Not knowing how to answer him. What was wrong with her? Why is she shaking? Why does she feel like bursting into tears?

What is it about the guard that frightens her so much?

"I- " She starts. "I don't want a guard," It sounds so petty and foolish to her as she says it. What kind of explanation was that?

He sighs.

"I'm sorry Azula, but," He pauses for a moment. Just looking at her. His face said so much to her but so little at the same time. "I don't have a choice,"

She nods. It's obvious by his tone that he is unsure of his decision. And for a moment she hopes that he will change his mind.

"Just, get some rest," He places a hand on her shoulder and she feels her insides turn at the finalization. "Goodnight, Azula," She feels his hand fall as he walks away.

"Goodnight Aang." She doesn't look at them as they close the door. After a moment, she glances up at the small light under the door frame and begins to crawl inside herself as a shadow of a guard consumes that light.

After all but running to her bed, she throws the covers over her head and squeezes her eyes shut.

_ Just go to sleep... Go to sleep... It's okay..._

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**I hope you liked it! ^^ I rather enjoyed writing this chapter. You probably have lots of questions now. And don't worry! They will all be answered in time! (:**

**Some things to think about:**

**-Why is Azula scared of having a guard?**

**-Will she ever remember?**

**-What do the sharp edges signify? **

**REVIEWS ARE LOVED! Please let me know what you think! **


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